Tag Archive | colony

Wow, this summer is flying by. Unreal. As much as I’ve think about updating everyone on the bees, we’ve just been so stinking busy this summer. We’ve had several more swarms since early summer, but other than that, the girls have been working hard gathering nectar and food and making honey. There’s hasn’t been much more to tell until now. So here’s a few bits to catch you up.

Ants

I can’t say I’ve experienced ant problems. We add a base to the bottom of each hive with PVC cups that I keep filled with water. They really help keep the ants and crawly critters out of the hives. But the other day I saw a TON of ants collecting at the base of one hive.

Base frame with ant-deterring PVC cups that we keep filled with water.

I thought of several options for removing them, but most are not good for the bees. What I came up with was cinnamon. I added several tablespoons of cinnamon to an old spice bottle and shook the cinnamon over the ants and around the base of the hive on the ground and on the cinder blocks. Worked like a charm. They picked up and moved someplace else that’s not around my hives.

Swarms

I received a frantic call from my neighbor this morning…one of those “your bees are swarming!” calls. Ugh. I ran out and watched a large swarm of bees buzzing their usual 30+ feet up into a pine trees. I ran to my hives to see if I could tell which hive was the culprit. No signs whatsoever, just business as usual. Usually they all go nuts when one of the hives swarms. But they were quietly going about their business. So I have to wonder if it came from one of my hives, or maybe it was one of my swarms still looking for a place to live. To bee honest, I’m not sure how long swarms hang around before they find refuge or meet their demise.

Anyway, I had to do something, so I made a quickie swarm trap, as follows:

I grabbed a copier box and cut a small hole in the bottom for an entrance.

Added one frame of old comb and one frame of fresh foundation.

Lined the inside with lemongrass essential oil.

Added the lid and lined the outside of the entrance with lemongrass oil.

Taped every possible opening to make it secure and ensure the entrance was the only place where they could come and go.

Then found the hubster’s old ladder, climbed the tree and placed it between some strong branches and secured with cable ties. Not too bad, really.

Do I think it will work. Heck no, but I have a better chance than not doing anything at all. So we shall see.

Honey

On the honey front, I’ve collected about 5 or 6 frames and plan to collect more this weekend. They’ve produced lots of honey, but still a lot of capping to do. Unlike past years, I’m collecting as I go then will extract around Labor Day weekend.

New Addition

One last thing, I have to introduce Pink Hive, our newest addition to the apiary. Pink Hive is a split from Purple Hive, and next week I’ll be checking to make sure we have a good laying queen. Purple Hive is my strongest hive, the one with the Pennsylvania queen. Purple Hive is one that swarmed recently. They are mite-resistant bees, they populate like crazy, make lots of honey, overwintered like a charm, and until now, haven’t swarmed. Plus, they’re gentle to work with. Polar opposite of my Texas queens. I bought my queen from Log Cabin Bee Farm. The mated queens aren’t cheap, but they are top quality and worth every penny. You only need one good hive to get more hives going. My goal is to get all of my hives transitioned to this amazing PA stock.

So there you go, the latest and greatest. The girls are doing great. At least they’re getting their swarming out of the way before it’s too late in the season. They still have time to build back up for winter. Fingers crossed for a good honey harvest! Happy summer everyone!

Swarm #2 happened the day after Swarm #1. However, this one we managed to capture on video as it was happening!

Over the past two years, we only ever stared up 40 feet in the trees waving good riddens to our swarms. They were finally kind enough to land in a 5 ft shrub, so we successfully captured our first swarm and rehomed it in Green Hive. They’re doing great.

The next day (Sunday) we had a second swarm. Interesting that all of our swarms have occurred between 11 and 1pm, mostly on weekends. This one definitely came from Mint Hive. I managed to video record the swarm as it was happening, which you can see on YouTube above. Pretty cool, especially for those who don’t know what swarms are and have never experienced one.

Quick recap – swarms are actually good for the bees and a signs that they are healthy and thriving. Not a fun for the beekeeper if the colony is lost, but healthy and natural for the bees. It’s their natural way of splitting the hive and making more space so they can continue reproducing and bringing more wonderful bees into the world. We need them desperately, so if that’s what it takes, then so bee it!

Below is a photo of the cluster. Yes, these are ALL bees! Not a nest, not a hive…just 100% pure bees clustering around their queen and waiting for their scout bees to come back and lead them to their new home. Amazing creatures, indeed.

Blue Hive Goes Bye Bye

The 2nd swarm was successfully captured and rehomed in Blue Hive (see photo below with the poop deck attached). There had been lots of commotion in front of the hives for several hours after, but everything calmed down and I thought all was good, until I checked Blue Hive the next day. The entire swarm had absconded and Blue Hive was left empty.

New Beekeeping Term – “Absconding”

In the beekeeping world, absconding means that ALL of the bees left the hive and moved on – unlike a swarm where the queen splits the hive, taking half the bees with her and leaving the other half behind.

New colonies are the most common absconders – a newly hived package of bees, or in this case a newly rehived swarm that decides their new home doesn’t feel like home. A colony can abscond at any time, even years after being established. Yep, a colony can just pack up and go…poof, bye bye. They always have their reasons though, usually because they’re bothered by something related to their living conditions.

Lesson Learned

My thought, in the case of Blue Hive, is that the swarm was too large for the 8 frame medium box I had dropped them in. The 2nd swarm was much larger than the first. In the future, I’ll set up two 8-frame medium boxes rather than one. I had planned on adding the new box within a day or two, but they didn’t hang around long enough for that.

My other thought is that maybe the frames hadn’t aired out long enough so they didn’t like the smell. Could bee a combination of things.

They were Texas bees, very hearty and good honey producers, but a bit hot tempered and quick to swarm. I’m hoping to get a split from the Pennsylvania bees that I had queened back in the fall. They’re well-mannered, mite resistant, they’ve reproduced nicely, and they overwintered well. We just have to see how well they produce honey, but I’m willing to split them anyway. Afterall, it’s about the bees, not about me getting honey. I have to remind myself of that sometimes. :o)

Temperatures got up to a whopping 54 degrees today! After weeks of freezing temperatures and a 3ft snowfall, I finally had the chance to check on my girls and restock their candy supply. 54 degrees is still somewhat cold for the bees. I certainly wouldn’t start pulling out frames and breaking apart boxes until the temps are at least in the 60’s. Below 50 degrees, the bees begin to cluster. Bees need to cluster in the cold because that’s how they generate heat and stay warm.

What Bees Do During the Wintertime

People often ask me if the bees are hibernating. Well, bees don’t really hibernate. Yes, they collect food to prepare for the winter, and yes, they stay in their hives during temperatures below 50 degrees. Once the temps drop into the 40s or lower, the bees cluster around the queen and they use their wings to generate heat. The larger the cluster, the more heat they can generate and the better chance they have of surviving the winter, as long as there’s enough food in the hive to keep them from starving. Bees don’t sleep. They work around the clock…each one has a role and a purpose.

Opening the hives in temperatures below 50 degrees risks breaking the cluster. Best not to disturb the bees in the cold. When the cluster is broken, or when bees get separated from the cluster in the cold, they can freeze. So my rule of thumb is, if I see the bees out and about, then it’s ok for me to open the tops of the hives and add candy.

Checking on the Girls

I schlepped up to the hives to find them flying in full force, and judging by the blanket of bees atop the blanket of snow, they’ve been super busy cleaning house. This is a good thing. They clean all the dead bees and debris out of the hives whenever possible. This helps prevent disease and keeps the colony healthy. They’ve also been busy taking orientation flights (another term for much needed potty break), and bringing in pollen. Yep, the little buggers found pollen in this desolate white land. Gotta love their spunk! It was a happy sight, indeed.

RIP Green Hive

I’d been anticipating the demise of Green Hive since the last time I’d checked on them. Lots of bees were flying in and around the hive. I also noticed some bees fighting at the bottom entrance (shown below). A sign that Green Hive was being robbed by the other bees.

I opened the top and sure enough, the other bees were robbing the remaining candy and honey, and Green Hive’s cluster stared up from between the frames in a dead, frozen state (shown below). Not one of my prouder moments as a beekeeper since I decided to take them into winter with two boxes rather than combining them with a stronger hive. Another lesson learned…

Freezing temperatures are best for preserving dead hives since parasites won’t infest the hives as long as the temperatures are freezing. Once things start to warm up in March, I’ll clean it up and get it ready to take in a new split colony in the spring, along with Blue Hive.

Recycled Swarm Trap

As I walked around the garden I noticed that the swarm trap that had been left up since last spring, has been claimed by some other form of wildlife. I suspect squirrels. They chewed large holes in both sides, and another hole that appears to be stuffed with garbage – plastic, paper, and who knows what else (shown below). Well, if it couldn’t house a swarm, then I’m glad something else found a good use for it. We’ll build another one in a few months and hope that it catches more swarms than this one did.

After this weekend, we’re all back in cabin fever mode. Hope it won’t be too long again before we get another reprieve. Stay warm everyone and let’s hope Mr. Groundhog doesn’t see his shadow. Early spring would bee nice :o)

Happy Holidays to everyone! I’m woefully behind on bee updates, and now that all the holiday hustle and bustle is slowing down, it’s a good time for a quick recap of the past few months…

Picking up Where We Left Off…

Not sure if you recall the Price of Slacking post from mid-September. Laying patterns were sporadic or brood was dwindling in three hives. For the record, this is not uncommon when the seasons change and the bees begin to transition their focus from multiplying their numbers to storing food for the winter. Regardless, I made the mistake of getting involved by ordering 3 mite resistant queens from PA ($150 w/ shipping, yikes!). High price due to 1) scarcity of queens that time of year, and 2) they were good quality, mite resistant queens from a very reputable breeder. And they came from PA, so I knew they could withstand our winter.

New Queens in the Hives

For the first time, I entered the hives with the intent of pinching queens. Of course, when I reentered hives to replace the queens, the brood patterns had improved in all three hives. Ugh! Too late, I had the queens in hand, so I found and pinched 2 nice looking queens in Purple and Blue hives and added the new queens. I felt sick over it and decided I will not do that again. However, I was patting myself on the back upon realizing that I am indeed capable of successfully identifying unmarked queens.

Green hive had dwindled in numbers, so I reduced their boxes down to two and could not find their queen. I ended up leaving them with their existing queen…which left me with one homeless queen. I gave her to a fellow bee club member and tried to brush this fiasco out of mind.

RIP Blue Hive

Blue Hive did not take. They died out within a week or two. The queen in Purple Hive did take. We entered winter with 4 hives. Who knows if they would still be going had I not gotten involved. I know I’d be $150 richer!

Ever Forward…into Winter

I winterized the girls in October, adding the wind barriers and mouse guards. I made candy, which was added to the hives a week ago. Believe it or not, we’ve had 70 degree weather in December here in MD. Not sure if that’s good or bad, but the bees seem to enjoy it when the sun shines. It’s been wet, so ventilation and ice are at the top of my concerns this winter.

All four hives are still going. Green hive is small and fragile, so I don’t have high hopes for them. Yellow hive is not as strong as they had been over the summer. Mint and Purple hives are currently my two strongest. As I’ve said many times, anything can happen at any time. Just keep them fed and well ventilated, and hope for the best.

In the meantime, we’re making good use of the honey. The hubster has already made a braggot (honey beer), and I have 10 gallons of mead aging in the hall closet. We’ve been eating it and cooking with it. I made cream honey for Christmas gifts, and I’ve been making lots of lotions and potions to sell for my Bead and Bubble business. We’ll have an online store up soon.

Three Years of BooBee Honey!

All in all, we’re truly blessed with our bees and blessed to have so many friends and family who are interested in learning and reading about them. I’ve been writing this blog for three years. Hard to believe. I’ve referred back to it many times myself, and I’m thrilled everytime another beekeeper tells me they love my blog and have learned from it. That’s what it’s all about.

Thank you all for sharing our beekeeping adventure. The journey is far from over!

You may recall that we lost Yellow Hive over the winter. The apiary just isn’t complete without all 5 hives going at once. Blue Hive was looking strong, so two weekends ago ((May 24th) I transferred some of their honey, nectar and brood frames to Yellow Hive, along with some healthy looking queen cells, and of course some bees. I gave them sugar syrup w/ my homemade Honey B Healthy and stood back to see if the split would take.

I didn’t post this sooner for fear of jinxing them. I’m very superstitious like that. They started slow, but now activity in Yellow Hive is picking up. Yay! The weather has been cool and wet, so once the sun comes back out and things dry out, I’ll give them a look to see whether a queen has emerged and started laying yet.

Expecting a Swarm

Any day now I’m anticipating that Blue Hive will swarm. I know that because I’ve seen queen cells and a virgin queen romping around. There is space in the brood chamber for laying, but when they decide to go, they’ll go. Fingers and toes are crossed that they’ll split themselves and will make a bee-line for the swarm trap. I continue to add lemongrass oil to the entrance to lure them in. Then I’ll collect them and add them to a new hive.

Preparing for the Best

Speaking of new hives, the hubster and I have had discussions about the number of hives I can add to my collection. He insists that 5 is enough. Yes dear, 5 is a good number. However, if I d happen to catch a swarm, then they need to go somewhere, so just incase they decide to cooperate (a rarity) I’m preparing hives 6 and 7….just incase. After all, I couldn’t possibly let them go homeless!

Watching the Garden Grow

We also planted the garden two weekends ago. Another yay! And with the recent rain, they’re popping up nicely. We’ll bee caging tomatoes today, and even my cucumbers are popping up from seeds that I salvaged from last year’s cucumbers, which were crazy prolific.

The major nectar flow is dying down, but there’s still plenty of flowers and color coming up. The wildflowers will be out soon. The bees are bringing in the honey. Boxes are heavy and filling fast.

With the cold and wet weather extending into April, the bees have been cooped up longer than usual, which makes for a slow start in terms of building up their populations and gaining access to pollen and nectar sources.

Last weekend, the temperatures reached mid-60’s, so I took advantage and did a full spring inspection, which involved:

Checking for brood, larvae and eggs (indicates that the queen is present and laying)

Cleaning the bottom boards (filled with dead bees and debris after a long winter of inactivity)

Reversing boxes so the queen will bee located at the bottom of the hive with plenty of space to build upwards, and

Providing clean frames in the box above the queen so she’ll have lots of space to lay many more eggs and move about freely.

What I found was the following:

Purple Hive – small amount of brood, no eggs or larvae, lots of honey frames.

Mint Hive – Brood, larvae, lots of honey frames

Green Hive – No brood, no larvae, lots of empty comb, and lots of honey frames.

Blue Hive – No brood, no larvae, lots of empty comb, and lots of honey frames.

Based on this inspection, only Mint Hive appeared to have an active queen, so this past week I was sent searching across the US for three queens. I quickly learned that queen bees aren’t typically available til about the 3rd week of April, and most of those were spoken for, which meant no queens for the BooBees until well into May. Ugh.

It doesn’t take long for a queenless hive to deteriorate, and here I had three suspected queenless hives. So what’s a beekeeper to do with queenless hives and no queens?

Well, one option is to transfer frames of eggs and larvae from a healthy hive to queenless so they can make their own queen. The problem with that option was that Mint Hive did not have enough eggs and larve to share. Next idea? Check back later and hope for the best…

Sunday, April 12, 2015

The weather has been improving with each day, and this past weekend was gorgeous. Flowers and trees started popping from out of nowhere, and the girls were buzzing with happiness over our cherry blossoms. Seems good weather was exactly what the bee doctor ordered. I dug back into the hives and discovered good brood, larvae and eggs in all hives. A festivus miracle, indeed! And they saved me $75!

The hubster laughs because 2 years ago I would’ve been Chicken Little screaming “the hives are falling, the hives are falling!”.

While inspecting, I pulled the jars of syrup. The bees have enough honey, they weren’t taking the syrup, so best to let them eat their natural food and save me the time and headache of dealing with supplemental feeding. They’re big bees now and able to feed themselves, so next week we’ll pull out the supers and give them space to start storing honey…for them and for us!

Lastly, during our spring cleaning and reorganizing, I collected old frames with dark wax comb that can be cleaned out and replaced with fresh wax foundation. Old comb is not healthy for the bees, so I’ll melt down and process the wax to use in balms and soaps. It’s tedious work, but I love the end product!

(Note: I wasn’t trying to be nostalgic w/ the b&w photo, I had no idea til they were downloaded. :o)

Strategies for the season ahead?

Setting up swarm traps

Checking regularly for queen cells

Adding a box with fresh comb between the bottom two boxes as needed to ensure they always have space; and

Split hives as needed.

The hubster said I have room for 3 more hives…and that’s in addition to reviving yellow hive – so who knows, I could have eight or nine hives by the end of this season. We shall see! In anycase, the girls are now ready for spring. Yay!

The temps hit mid-forties this weekend. In the middle of February, you take any opportunity to check on the girls and make sure they have plenty of food. My last check was disappointing. Mint hive was the only one that showed any significant activity, and yellow hive had died. I since made a sugar cake, just incase, and upon tapping on the hives a few times over the past week or two, I was relieved to hear some signs of life. But I wasn’t sure of their current states until today…

Pink Hive – This is what you want to see when you lift the cover…

Mint Green Hive – A smaller cluster, but still going.

Green Hive – Small, tight cluster – looking good.

Blue Hive – I could see how they were doing before I even lifted the lid.

Blue hive – strong on the inside too!

Yay, four hives still going. As happy as I was to see them, they weren’t happy at all to see me. Mean little buggers. I love my bees, but they really need to learn to be more gracious to the beekeeper who feeds them!

I’m never too optimistic for fear of jinxing them. Anything can happen at any time, and we still have another solid month and half of cold weather (6 weeks at least if you listen to Mr. Groundhog). They say March timeframe is one of the riskiest – that’s often when hives start to become active and can easily starve if they don’t have enough stores. I’ll keep another sugar cake in reserve, just for added insurance. As for why yellow hive died out – that’s a good question – who knows, mites, starvation. I need to pull the boxes apart and inspect further, but if I’m not mistaken, that’s the only hive that never had a Texas queen. My Texas bees are hardy and they seemed to thrive in the cold weather last year. So this year I’ll try to split more hives from my Texas girls. We really need to work on their temperaments though.

Here’s to wishing away the winter blahs and hoping for an early spring!